How You Really Feel
by Co-Quill-Eon
Summary: In a bar in Georgia, a loose-tongued Elena tells Damon how she really feels.


It's cute when she thinks she's one upped him in something. This is what Damon thinks as Elena downs another shot quickly, her fifth, and does a little victory dance as the other bar patrons groan in disbelief. "I am just _that_ amazing," she preens, and from anyone else it would be obnoxious, but from Elena, with her bright sparking eyes, flushed cheeks, and wide smile, it manages to make her seem adorable. That's why Damon doesn't let her know that the only reason why she can suddenly put away alcohol like a pro is because she's got a pro in her system. She's got _him_ in her system, running rampant, and metabolizing most of the alcohol almost as fast as it is consumed.

He had to give her his blood. As she'd lain limp in his arms, unconscious, the decision hadn't been a hard one. He'd looked around for the rouge vampire she'd mentioned before fainting (he found it funny that after trying so hard not to be the damsel in distress, she ended up swooning in his arms. _His _arms, and not his brother's - but really, it all came down to timing), and laid her on the asphalt gently, before nipping at his wrist, and holding it to her lips. It had taken some coaxing and gentle fingers working her throat, but he'd gotten some into her. And he wasn't going to mention it.

The choice to take her with him was another split decision, and one that he doesn't regret at all, as she turns that happy, wide eyed gaze on him, and leans into his arm. "This is fun," she sighs and puts her head on his shoulder.

Damon resists the inherent urge he feels to rest his face against her hair, and glances at the clock. Yup, just about right. The blood should be leaving her system right around now, which means her 'winning streak' is about to end.

He considers letting her pound a few more back and comes to the conclusion of one more beer - before she wakes up and hates herself (and him) in the morning -and he tells her as much.

Somehow, though, he misses the two shots she sneaks when his head is turned.

But he doesn't mind it when she takes her allotted beer (well it's his beer. She's just taken the bottle from his lips) and gives him a surprisingly level gaze.

"I love Stefan, you know?"

Damon's heart gives an unpleasant lurch, but covers it up by taking back his beer back and taking a sip. "I'll alert the newspapers."

She hits his arm, and laughs slightly. She takes the bottle back. "I'm serious. I love him, but he wouldn't let me do this." Damon raises an eyebrow, and she waves her hands around, indicating the bar itself. "_This, _this. Get drunk in a bar, in another state, in the middle of nowhere."

"That's because he's the responsible one. I'm the big, bad brother. I'm _supposed_ to corrupt youths."

Elena rolls her eyes, and takes a sip of Damon's beer. "You're not that bad. I know you."

"Then you know I'm insane, reckless, a rebel without a cause." He says this without much conviction, somewhat distracted as he watches her slender throat as she swallows.

She sets the bottle down, and says easily. "You're not insane. A little..." she searches for the right word and he smirks, "volatile, sometimes, sure. But so is Jeremy. You remind me of Jeremy, actually." By her light, careless tone, Damon can tell the alcohol is finally making itself known.

"What, he rips out throats on the weekends?" His smirk widens, and he leans in conspiratorially, flirtatiously. "Is there something you're not telling me, Elena?"

A small smile plays on her lips as she pushes Damon back with her hand. "No. And you don't do that anymore." He's about to protest (he's been busy lately. He plans on getting back to his normal routines soon) but she charges on. "You're both volatile because you're both so emotional. You care a little too much, and don't know how to handle it."

Damon scoffs openly at this, and takes away the beer bottle. "Alright, you're officially cut off for the night."

She lets him take the bottle away and continues. "I'm serious. Jeremy loses his temper and broods for a few days, where you lose your temper and go on a killing spree, or used to anyway. And then, you brood for a few days." The drink makes the words fall from her lips a little too easily.

He ignores the way his stomach flips slightly at her words. He chalks it up to annoyance; leave it up to Elena to imagine there's good in him, still. To find redemption in a monster."Believe what you want,"he says flippantly.

"Oh, I will." She turns away from him and signals for another shot, and Damon makes a slashing motion across this throat behind her back. Bree looks slightly amused before nodding at Elena, and producing a glass out of nowhere. Damon groans.

"Want to know what else I believe?"

"No."

"I think that _that's_ the actual you." He blinks at her. "That part that cares too much. And that part that acts almost purely on emotions. You know, I used to think Stefan was the emotional one out of the two of you?" Bree sets the glass down on the bar top, and Elena drinks it down before Damon can snatch it away. She makes a face at the burn, and he glares at Bree as she saunters away.

Elena is definitely going to hate him in the morning. "But he's not."

"Don't order anymore," he scowls at her. "I don't need you running back to Mystic Falls telling everyone I literally dragged your unconscious little body across the country. Everyone would believe you, you know, 'cause it's me."

She waves his words away. "Oh, I won't. But yeah, Stefan explained to me about the amplifying thing." Damon marvels briefly on her ability to stay on topic when she's rapidly becoming faded. "And you know, he can feel everything a lot more now." Damon narrows his eyes, slightly confused at her wording. "But you..." she pauses and contemplates. "I couldn't figure out what got amplified with you, you know. Because I _know_ you weren't always evil. But _then_, I realized." Her face takes on a kind of satisfied expression, as if she's remembering the exact moment she figured out what she's about to reveal next. Damon is annoyed to realize that he's inadvertently hanging on her every word. "You _aren't_ evil. All those jokes you make to relieve tension, and you always want to have a good time, and you care, and you fall in love and stay in love, and you're sarcastic, and witty. _That's _you. The rest. All that bad stuff you do, that's not you. It's just stuff you do to cover the real you." She says all of this quite simply, as if discussing the upcoming weather. Damon stares at her as she rambles on, unaware that her words have suddenly made his mind fuzzy, and the odd feeling that he's been ignoring in his stomach to intensify.

He blinks a few times, and tunes back into her impromptu speech. "-sucks, you know? Because I care about you, so much! And I get that you want to protect yourself from getting hurt, I mean we all do. It's human nature," Damon wants to point out that he's not human anymore, but his mouth won't work, "but I don't know why you do it with _me. _I mean, I would never hurt you, ever. And I _love_ being around the real Damon." She lets out a small yawn that she covers with her hand, and leans onto his shoulder, again. Damon lets her, his hand limply encircling the forgotten bottle of beer, and eyes fixed on some unknown point ahead of him. "I love that Damon." She says, relaxed. "This Damon."

Her words seem to have an echoing effect, bouncing against his skull, multiplying, and becoming hard to understand; he's finding more meaning in her words than he should be, thinking about them more than he wants to.

She's drunk, he decides. She doesn't know what she's saying, and he would be an idiot to take anything she's said tonight into serious consideration; she won't even remember it in the morning. He needs to forget about it, and he remembers noticing a very blonde distraction by the pool tables earlier.

Damon moves his eyes away from the nonexistent spot, and realizes that Elena isn't leaning on him anymore, but has moved further down the bar, and has slipped the beer bottle out of his hand, unnoticed.

He watches her for a few moments, chatting to a small group of people, before he strips off his leather jacket, and gets up from his seat.

His eyes automatically find the blonde, who's bright green eyes are already on him. He pushes his thoughts away, gives her a slow smile, and saunters over.


End file.
